


Growing Through the Pages

by IvyCpher



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Babysitting, Draco doesn't like children, Dyslexic Teddy Lupin, F/M, Good Draco Malfoy, M/M, POV Draco Malfoy, The Princess Bride References
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-09
Updated: 2019-08-09
Packaged: 2020-08-13 18:30:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20178793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IvyCpher/pseuds/IvyCpher
Summary: Draco is not at all excited to help Harry babysit their godson Teddy. He doesn't like children, they're sticky and gross and loud and all too much for him. But after spending some time with Teddy his thoughts on children begin to change.





	Growing Through the Pages

"Draco, it's been on the calendar for well over a week!" Harry said as he followed his fiancé through their small home. "A week is enough for you to 'prepare' yourself! I mean- it's just babysitting!"

Draco stopped power walking away from Harry, he turned and scowled at him. "You know how I feel about children- they're full of germs and questions and-" He visibly cringed. He crossed his arms about his chest. "I won't do it."

"But you  _ like  _ Teddy! And he's  _ our _ godson!"

"He's not  _ my _ godson! He's  _ your _ godson!"

With a sigh, Harry ran a hand through his unruly hair. He took a slow step towards Draco, extending his arm to wrap him in a hug. "Draco, you're my fiancé with basically makes you my husband. And since you're my husband you're technically Teddy's godfather too."

An over dramatic sigh left Draco's lips, he let Harry wrap him up in his arms. He buried his face into his chest and was quiet for a moment, "It's a whole two days we're staying there," He muttered.

Harry rolled his eyes and kissed the top of Draco's head, "It's just for the weekend, it won't be that bad really. Bring a book or something." He suggested, "I can handle most everything else I just.. kinda wanted you to be with me."

Draco looked up at Harry and groaned, "You have a way of guilt tripping me," He shook his head. "Fine I'll bring a book! I'll go for you and I'll keep my complaining to a minimum. I just don't want to have to change any diapers."

"Draco- Teddy is ten."

"I don't know the milestones in a child's life!"

***

"Thanks again, Harry, Draco, for doing this." Lupin smiled at both of them. He was on the front steps to his own house while Harry and Draco stood inside with Teddy behind them. He had a worn carpet bag in his hand. Tonks was standing besides him with her own bag and a bright orange pixie cut. "If there's any problems just send us an owl, you do have the address right? Or if it's something terrible just go and see Tonks' parents they-"

"We'll be fine, Remus!" Harry smiled with a roll of his eyes. He wrapped an arm around Draco's shoulders and pulled him close. "We've got it all under control. You can trust us, the house won't be in shambles when you get back we promise."

"You're just like your father," Remus muttered. "Be good for them, will you Teddy?"

"I will dad!" Teddy pushed Harry and Draco apart at the hips and jumped forward to hug his father around the waist. "Bye, mum!" He pulled away from Remus to hug his mother. "Bring us back something amazing!" He grinned up at her.

Tonks grinned back down at Teddy. "I'll bring you back the most amazing thing, baby!" She kissed the top of his blue haired head and bent down to hug him properly. "Don't let him stay up too late, once you give in he'll know you're weak and that he'll be able to get the better of you whenever he wants." She spoke to Harry and Draco over Teddy's shoulder with a grin.

"Oh really," Harry rolled his eyes. "Teddy? He's never bad!"

"Never ever!" Teddy grinned.

Remus and Tonks shared a smile. "Don't be afraid to owl us, you two." Tonks let go of Teddy and grabbed ahold of Remus' hand. "Alright, we really should be leaving now, I don't want them giving our reservations away like last time."

"Of course," Remus smiled at his wife. And while Harry and Teddy and Draco waved them off they stepped off the front step and into the yard where they apparated off to their vacation spot.

As soon as they left, Teddy latched himself onto Draco's legs in a hug. Draco yelped and looked from Teddy to Harry, but Harry only laughed softly and patted his back before walking back into the house. "Uh- what are you doing?" He asked, grabbing ahold of the boy's shoulders to pry him off, but Teddy just hugged him tighter.

"Giving you a hug!" Teddy said simply.

"Well could you let go? I'm not in a huggy sort of mood."

"Oh, yeah." Teddy let go and took a step back in side the house. "Will you be in a hug mood later?"

"Probably not." Draco sighed, he too went inside the house and shut the front door. "I don't like hugs very much."

"He's lying!" Harry shouted from further inside the house, making Draco spin around. Harry came walking out of the kitchen, he wrapped his arm around Draco's waist and pulled him close despite Draco's squirming. "Don't listen to him, Teddy, he loves hugs. He's just touchy about  _ who  _ hugs him."

"Ohhhh," Teddy nodded. "Then I'll be extra nice so he'll let me hug him!"

Draco groaned dramatically and finally freed himself from Harry's grip, "I can't believe you two, conspiring my demise. When I'm right in front of you, that's just evil." He went over to the couch and plopped down on it. He had left his messenger bag there when they first arrived, in it he brought a few books he had wanted to get through during the weekend. 

Across the room Harry rolled his eyes, "That's right, Malfoy, I'm so ungodly evil that you're going to marry me remember?" Teddy laughed loudly. "What do you want for dinner, kiddo?" Harry asked him with a smile."

"If I say cupcakes-"

"No, we can make cupcakes tomorrow or something but you can have them for dinner." Harry laughed softly. "Why not mac n cheese or something?"

"Yeah! That's good!"

Harry nodded, "Great, I'll start that. Draco you be good to Teddy!" He said as he left the living room for the kitchen.

Draco only rolled his eyes as he reached into his bag and pulled out a green covered book. He curled his legs under him and opened it. As much as Draco tried to read he couldn't, he was more focused on Teddy walking over to the couch and sitting close to him. He tried to ignore him, forcing his eyes to move across the pages but not registering a single word.

"What are you reading?" Teddy asked, turning his head at an odd angle to try and read the title on the book's spine.

"A book," Draco stated simply, not looking up. "You're going to be a first year or something at Hogwarts next year, can't you even read?"

"I can- I just." Teddy puffed up his cheeks and sighed, "The letters just get all mixed around and it's hard to read them."

"Oh." Draco didn't know what to say to that. In the back of his mind he knew that Hermione had told him of something similar to what Teddy had described. Words becoming a jumble and all that, apparently Ron had it, whatever it was called. Hermione had told him that wizards didn't know about learning disabilities and that it made school a great deal harder for some children and that when she became Minister of Magic that she planned to make it so learning disabilities and a long list of other things Draco couldn't remember became public knowledge in the wizarding community. "It's called the Princess Bride, it's a muggle romance novel of sorts." He shut the book since he hadn't been able to really read it anyway and held it out to Teddy.

Teddy took the book and ran his fingers over the front cover before handing it back, "Romance? It's not one of those-... y'know  _ bad  _ romance books is it?" He whispered.

"I'm not even going to ask how you know about those-" Draco said quickly, taking his book back. "And no it certainly is not," He looked around and leaned in close to Teddy. " _ Harry  _ is the one to read those sorts of books, but you didn't hear it from me." He said quietly.

Teddy laughed and Draco noticed how fluidly his blue hair melted into a bright shade of blond, very much like his own hair. He didn't say anything about it. "I didn't get very far in it before.. If you're still interested about it maybe-"

"You could read it to me?" Teddy butt in, scooting too close to Draco and looking over his arm at the book in his hands. "Yeah! That'd be great! Dad only reads me books about creatures and I've heard all of those about a  _ million _ times and mum doesn't read much either."

"Harry and I read all the time," Draco said absentmindedly, already getting over Teddy's fondness for closeness. Though he wasn't very enthusiastic about others besides Harry being in such close contact with him, Draco didn't feel all that frightened about Teddy touching him. He opened the book and thumbed through a great bit of pages.

"Hey you're skipping some of the story!" Teddy interjected.

"What?" Draco said, still flipping through pages. Finally he stopped on a title page. "No I'm not, I just skipped over a preview. A bunch of boring stuff that the author wrote that has no meaning to the story whatsoever."

"Oh." Teddy nodded softly. 

"Yeah. Now can I read or what?"

"Yes, read, please!"

And so Draco read, he read and Teddy listened intently to the story. Though he didn't get to read much however because dinner was soon done. Harry interrupted their reading by popping into the livingroom to tell them that it was time to eat.

As Teddy hopped off of Draco and ran into the kitchen, Draco marked their place in the book with a scrap piece of paper on the coffee table. He was starting to think that Teddy and maybe all children weren't that bad. He put the book down and started into the kitchen, where Harry stopped him by wrapping his arm around him and pulling him into a kiss. "I told you you liked Teddy, see you're already being a great godfather."

"Oh shut up," Draco smiled and pecked Harry's cheek.

**Author's Note:**

> My friend gave me this idea! I really like the thought of Harry often babysitting for Lupin and Tonks!
> 
> Comments are very much appreciated!!


End file.
